Our hearts were ringing in the key that our souls were singing
Dancing my way into a new season, courtesy of Earth, Wind, & Fire
It’s fall, y’all! I’ve finally accepted that summer is over and I am now ready for all things autumn: leaves changing colors, crisp air, sweaters, weekend baking projects, hot apple ciders, and making my way through a giant stack of books in front of a roaring fire.
There is that pesky little problem of figuring out what I’m going to do now that the fun parts of “funemployment” have begun to wear off. According to my father, I cannot, as I’d hoped, spend the rest of my life just reading books and hanging out with my dog. Add that to the list of dreams shattered by the realities of adulthood.
But until I find a new job, I’m going to keep doing what I do best - read books and hang out with my dog. And tell you what to read, of course. So let’s get to it: here’s everything I’ve read and loved lately.
The Ink Black Heart by Robert Galbraith
PSA: If you’ve never read a Cormoran Strike novel, stop right now and start with the first one, The Cuckoo’s Calling, otherwise, you will be completely lost. Also, there will be spoilers in this review, so feel free to move along.
If you’re still with me, can I just take a moment to gracefully squeal with joy over having a new Robert Galbraith book to obsess over? Yes, I am aware that Robert Galbraith is actually JK Rowling and she’s rather problematic these days, but let’s separate the work from the creator for a hot second - it’s not like I can make myself stop loving Harry Potter just because Rowling is transphobic, and the same can be said about the Strike books. Plus, the Cinemax adaptation starring Tom Burke and Holliday Grainger is just too good not to watch. Naturally, I’m going to want to dive into a new installment of their story as soon as it hits shelves.
Private detective Cormoran Strike and his business partner Robin Ellacott are stretched pretty thin at their agency with a growing list of active cases, so when Edie Ledwell, a young cartoonist, comes in asking for help dealing with an increasingly threatening cyberstalker, Robin, unfortunately, has to turn her away. When she sees in the news a few days later that Edie has been murdered, she and Strike are pulled into the case, trying to determine who Edie’s stalker, going by the online name Anomie, could be. The more embroiled they become in the case and the world of The Ink Black Heart, the popular cartoon Edie created with her ex-boyfriend, the larger the suspect pool becomes. Family dramas, hateful chatroom moderators, and terrorist groups certainly don’t make their job any easier, either. And because the universe doesn’t want Strike to have an easy time of anything ever, Charlotte Campbell, his insufferable ex, makes an appearance at the most inopportune of times, putting their entire company at risk. Throughout all of that is the low level thrum of the will-they-won’t-they romantic pull between the two detectives that’s become as much a part of the over-arching storyline as any regular character.
I’ll admit that it’s been a while since I’ve read the other books in the series, but I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that this one has been my favorite thus far. And clocking it at 1,013 pages, it’s also the longest book in the series to date. If you’re put off by the high page count, don’t be: so. much. happens that you really won’t want it to end. I could have easily read a few hundred more pages just to spend some extra time with Cormoran and Robin and this complicated case. If you’re looking for something to really sink your teeth into, a detective series will always exceed your expectations, and this one in particular goes above and beyond.
The Dead Romantics by Ashely Poston
A ghostwriter who sees ghosts? Sounds like the perfect romance novel just in time for Spooky Season. Throw in a small town, a family-run funeral parlor, and a grumpy x sunshine trope, and you’ve got the makings for one of the quirkiest books I’ve read all year.
Florence Day has spent the last 5 years successfully ghostwriting for one of the most well-known romance novelists in the publishing industry. She was getting along just fine until her boyfriend dumped her and she stopped believing in love. Unfortunately, she can’t use that excuse with her new editor to explain why she’s got an upcoming deadline and nothing to turn in. Just as Florence is preparing for her dream career to crash and burn, she receives an unexpected phone call from home, forcing her to return to the town she fled a decade ago to bury her beloved father. From her eccentric family and their funeral parlor to the girls that made her high school years miserable, everything in her small Southern hometown is exactly the same - with the exception of Ben, her editor, whose ghost shows up on her doorstep with no idea what happened to him. Over the next week, Florence tries to help Ben move on while he helps her say goodbye to her father by planning his funeral. Amidst all of this, they have to reconcile their growing attraction towards one another with the fact that Ben is, quite literally, ghosting Florence.
If you were a fan of My Girl, Pushing Daisies, or even The Sixth Sense, this might be right up your alley. If you’re starting to feel the downward pull of Seasonal Affect Disorder, this could be exactly the book you need to lift your spirits (see what I did there?) and brighten your day. Either way, there’s no way you could ever read this book and not walk away with a smile on your face.
The Bartender’s Cure by Wesley Straton
After having made the mistake of spending most of my twenties dating bartenders, I’ve come to appreciate the skill and artistry that goes into creating a great cocktail. When I saw this sitting on the new release table at Main Point Books, I skimmed the synopsis and put it down assuming that I would already know the story: terrible hours, too much drinking, and a dedication to the job above everything else. But when I was back in the store a few weeks later, Cathy very kindly let me head down to the basement to browse through the galleys, and there it was, sitting on a shelf - the advance copy of the debut novel I had previously dismissed. I figured, why not just take it with me? Even if I don’t read it, it’ll look great on my bookcase. (It will come as a surprise to absolutely no one that I did, in fact, read it.)
Samantha Fisher is, well, a little bit of a mess. After a mental breakdown and a breakup with her live-in boyfriend, she decides to defer law school for a year and trade in San Francisco for New York, where she’s living on her best friend’s sofa and has no income. When she lands a job bartending at Joe’s Apothecary, a neighborhood spot in Brooklyn, she tells herself it’s temporary, a stop-gap before heading to Harvard. But the more she learns about the service industry and gets to know her regular clientele, the more uncertain she becomes about pursing the future she once envisioned. Sam soon finds herself checking out books on the history of cocktails from the local library, creating new menu items, and finding a community at Joe’s - in other words, building a life she hadn’t anticipated. As her deferrment period comes to a close, she needs to make a decision: step into the future that’s been planned, or stay on her current, if uncertain, path.
I loved this book, but at times I found it difficult to read. Not because it was poorly written or it moved too slowly, but because I found myself identifying with Sam a little too much at certain points: Jobless? Check. Not sure what to do next? Check. Ignoring a looming future problem by diving into a new project (in her case, learning the histories of classic cocktails; in my case, reading anything I can get my hands on)? Check. If anything, all of those reasons made me love this book even more. And bonus points for having an index at the end of the book with all of the drink recipes mentioned througout the story. If you loved Sweetbitter or Kitchens of the Great Midwest, you’ll want to pick this up ASAP.
Ok, that is it for me. If you need me, I’ll be mentally preparing for the premiere of Hocus Pocus 2, and/or diving into a stack of books about witches, vampires, schools that try to kill its students, and gods running wild in the human realm.
As a friendly reminder: don’t forget to subscribe, share, and shop local (all titles link back to my local independent bookstore, Main Point Books, but you can find a store near you simply by searching on IndieBound or Bookshop.org). And until next time,
Happy reading,
Sam
P.S. - If you’re in a book club local to the Main Line and would like a moderator to facilitate your next discussion, feel free to contact me!